Commerce Ministry establishes Directorate General of Trade Remedies  

Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued notification for creation of Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in Department of Commerce. In this regard amendments were made in Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.

Directorate General of Trade Remedies

DGTR will be apex national authority for administering all trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures. It will bring Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied duties (DGAD), Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) and Safeguards (QR) functions into its fold by merging them into one single national entity. It will also provide trade defence support to our domestic industry and exporters in dealing with increasing instances of trade remedy investigations instituted against them by other countries.
It will serve as multi service organization drawing upon the skill-set of various officers from various ministries in the field of International Trade, Customs, Revenue, Finance, Economics, Costing and Law. Creation of DGTR will result in savings of 49 posts to Government on account of merging DGAD and DGS. Thus, its establishment will be in line with Government’s goal of “Minimum Government Maximum Governance.

Background

In recent years, Government had initiated more than 130 anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard cases to deal with rising incidences of unfair trade practices and provide a level playing field to domestic industry. The issue of creation of DGTR was pending since 1997 to provide a level playing field to domestic industry.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2018